Mabiletsa aligns with BCP's party funding secrecy concerns

Isaac Mabiletsa.PIC MORERI SEJAKGOMO
Isaac Mabiletsa.PIC MORERI SEJAKGOMO

RASESA: After concerns raised by the Botswana Congress Party (BCP) about the allocation of political party funding in the 2024-2025 financial year, former Kgatleng East legislator Isaac Mabiletsa has expressed displeasure with how their long-advocated measures might be ushered in.

He expressed worry that the ruling party, the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP), could receive the lion's share of the P34 million provisioned for political party funding. Speaking at Unity Dow's launch as the BCP Member of Parliament candidate for Kgatleng West in Rasesa, Mabiletsa emphasised the concern. "We are concerned that the BDP is going to take the lion's share of the P34 million of political funding because the BDP wants to use the system recommended by the Constitutional review committee whereby a party with the majority of members of Parliament gets a bigger share compared to other parties," he said.

Mabiletsa underlined the BCP's call for a fair distribution of political funding, stating that it is crucial for political party funding to be the main ingredient and central to free and fair elections. "This is a disgrace to democracy, and we will not allow it as the BCP," he remarked. Mabiletsa said the entire political funding process is shrouded in secrecy by the government, with decisions being made behind closed doors, away from the scrutiny of the public. He bemoaned, "Everything about political funding is done in secret by the government led by Masisi." Mabiletsa alleges that the issue of political funding has been a point of contention, with opposition party leaders like Dumelang Saleshando making attempts to engage in discussions with President Mokgweetsi Masisi on the matter. However, these efforts were reportedly fruitless, as the proposed meetings never materialised. "Saleshando wrote to Masisi at least two times that all parties should meet for a discussion on political matters like this, but that never happened," he added. Mabiletsa said the allocation of a sum of P34 million for political funding by the government has also come under scrutiny. He further mentioned that the decision-making process behind the allocation has no transparency on how this figure was arrived at. "The BDP-led government lacks transparency. It's unclear how they reached an agreement on the amount of P34 million," hinted Mabiletsa.

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